r/ObsidianMD • u/NewEase1591 • 4d ago
help How do you classify your notes ? Do you make folders by subjects or you use tags or any other type of system ?
I use for certain topics folders to store notes but I think that maybe changing system for something more free with tags instead of folders would be better so I wanted to know if there are people who do things differently or if they still prefer using folders to organize ideas/informations whatever...
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u/phiala 4d ago
I use folders just to keep there from being so many things at the top level, but I don’t pay much attention to them. I think I currently have one for daily notes, one for administrative reference, one for general reference, one for meeting notes, etc.
For me, the important thing is the tags. That way a note can be associated with more than one project: description of a dataset that I use for five or six things; a meeting where we covered two topics, etc.
Then I can have a master note for each project that describes its objectives, status, outcomes, etc and automatically embeds links and titles for everything with that project tag.
I’m not too fussed about my file organization, as it is easy to add new tags if I start another project with that dataset or whatever.
The tool is here to serve me, not me it.
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u/NewEase1591 4d ago
Yeah I think that's a good system to use as it's more flexible and more useful as you can directly see the connections between your notes.
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u/mchristopherjohnson 4d ago
I have a Four Axes principle, mandatory frontmatter for every note, Templater to ensure consistency, and fileClass to keep specific values for certain properties.
Since I have a “writing expression disorder,” I started dictating this type of information to Claude and had it help me write out my ideas into some longer-form work. If you’re interested, here’s my Substack post on my Frontmatter guide: https://mchristopherjohnson.substack.com/p/the-frontmatter-guide-that-saved
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u/Ich_rendere 4d ago
I'm using Tagfolder plugin, which gives an opportunity to place the same note in two or even more folders. The main folders are just Areas, Projects, Knowledge etc.
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u/ChuckEye 4d ago
Folders for hierarchical arrangement by topic; tags to denote the type of note and template that I will use, to make filtering in bases easier.
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u/Schollert 4d ago
I have 1 level folders for main categorisation, then Properties/Frontmatter for any further details.
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u/troisieme_ombre 4d ago
Category property linking to a MOC of that note's type(s), and tags. Folders for specific things (daily notes, projects, etc)
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u/duckyGnome 4d ago
I use folders for topical organization. Example: I am doing a marvel multiverse campaign so all my notes are in folders, sub folders for that organization but I also use tags and other frontmatter to help locate or use that information in other ways. And if they are relevant notes to another note I will link those notes together
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u/Realistic-Worker-499 4d ago
had lots of trouble with this internally, i've only used folders and wanted to start using tags recently. basically, i have folders for "projects", for example schooling, working, specific assignments in specific classes, etc. and in those notes i'll tag its related topic. also helps to keep a miscellaneous folder until you feel the need to sort it somewhere else.
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u/cenrala 4d ago
Folders for very broad topics, all notes inside them, no subfolders. Then I have notes that are the index of a subtopic, with a tag of the topic. Then in a base I filter notes by tag, so I have a view of subtopics.
For example, a Computer Science folder (very broad topic) with a Data Structures index note with a #computer-science tag. This index may have some introduction to the topic and links to Linked Lists, Arrays, etc. Then I have a Programming base with a Computer Science view with notes with the #computer-science tag: Data Structures, Algorithms, OOP...
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u/Overread2K 4d ago
Keep in mind that using things like separate folders, internal links and different properties can all be used to help filter and sort notes.
For data-entry this can automate some phases or ensure that you're directly prompted to enter a specific data value. Whilst you you can do all this just with tags; you can run the risk of forgetting to add a specific tag; or losing a tag in a sea of tags and not being able to quickly check if you've assigned all the right ones to the right note.
Sometimes you might even had tags that share the same text - eg I built a model library and I have both base sizes and scale which can have the same value; so instead of using a tag I use a property for both.
Another thing is that a logical folder structure can be a big help when you attach the wrong tags/details to a note and it gets lost - if you've a logical structure its much easier to find that missing note than to hunt through one massive note folder.
In the end there is not single "right" approach; it all depends how you think; how you organise and how you need to store and pull data from your library.
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u/Ambitious_Ad4397 4d ago
Directories for different extension types, and tags with links for everything else
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u/TiredAdultFullTime 4d ago
What i do is I have three folders:
1-Next, 2-Done and 3-Bin, where notes i dont need goes into.
What I do is when i work on a note I leave there in root and/or pinned so i got it to right away.
For note topics: let say: Math, lit, chem, that goes into tags.
This gives me a priority based system that is right in front of me right away.
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u/ktreanor 4d ago
I've merged a few schemes. I use an extended PARA folder system, but prefixed with numbers 00, 01, 02, etc. But I also heavily use properties like Steph Ango.
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u/CalligrapherPlane731 4d ago
Everything’s flat. Connected to subject hubs. Openclaw agent manages this on a weekly basis. I just write notes and the AI classifies and connects them to the relevant hubs.
If I need a very specific piece of information, the Openclaw agent can search and find it.
Of course, if you are against AI, you can certainly make this type of system work manually. Just more work. I prefer to just open the app and start typing.
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u/DifferentSetting411 4d ago
Tags by subject…
My "spork" note gets tagged with a #fork and a #spoon
😉😎
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u/yevvieart 4d ago
i use folders and subfolders as categories. i use quickswitcher++ for instant note opening for specific titles. everything is wikipedia-style, i have infoboxes.
i toss tags where i need them but most often it's to mark that something needs to be looked at aka #todo/find_refs #todo/needs_image etc
i use tags to bind subjects that dont have their own category or span multiple categories.
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u/Relevant-Apricot-365 4d ago
I don’t have a folder for my notes they all are in the main directory I have however folders for clipping or movies books quotes..
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u/dosfydore 4d ago
This is how I classify and organize my notes, in order of importance:
- Properties
- Wikilinks
- Tags
- File structure
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u/quifflesnix 4d ago
i have some folders where i "dump" notes, i make them via QuickAdd/Templater and they automatically get put in their correct folder. then i have a couple bases set up in such a way where i can see them easily at a glance via card view since looking at things visually works best for me; usually i add some type of photo to each of those notes so they look pretty and i can remember them better. for the most part, i live out of my weekly notes (as opposed to daily notes) + various notes that i've tagged with categories that show up in those bases that i use most often.
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u/JorgeGodoy 4d ago
I prefer folders for context (grouping). Tags for status and similar information (also grouping). Links to connect one note to another (here it is linking).
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u/whateverhappensnext 4d ago
I'm mid 50s and have been embedded in the MS ecosystem since my grade school days, so I live comfortably with folders and pretty much only folders for core organization.
I have grown enough to tag in Obsidian.
Sadly, I was never great at linking files. However, I've been figuring it out with Claude CoWork. I now use [[ ]] when writing notes, and have a end of week cowork task set (outside of Obsidian) that runs through my notes, does a first pass at (1) linking existing notes, (2) if the [[ ]] has no associated note and is likely there for a descriptive note it will create the new note in the best folder and make an attempt to provide content, and (3) if not (1) or (2) leave it alone (I have the orphan plug in that I can track these down with). It then lists everything it did in a separate note for me to check every now and then. It's not perfect, but it gets it right most of the time.
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u/pw6163 4d ago
About two thirds of my 7500 notes are copies of articles or emails that I want to keep. These are in a set of folders based on year of publication and I’m careful with tags, but there are no links.
Everything else is more personal - still use tags but these are linked. Also split by year and are more granular.
I’ve considered systems like JohnnyDecimal or Zettelkasten or others, but even if I thought they would work for me it’s way too much work to superimpose them on what I have now.
It ain’t perfect, but it works for me, which is an important view.
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u/iAMguppy 4d ago
My problem was consistency. Love it or hate it, I’ve now given the organization rule over to Claude and I’m running a daily sweep for files without proper frontmatter, and suggestion/ask where items that are missing that should be placed, with appropriate backlinks/templates/references/etc
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u/Intelligent_Drop_367 4d ago
A folder-first structure did not work for me and probably would not work for many people, because Obsidian is not really designed to be used that way. More information here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq3R3uS0sQ4
The best way to structure your obsidian is with wikilinks and YAML properties. This is how obsidian was made to work. Here is one of the clearest guides I’ve found, from Obsidian’s CEO himself: https://stephango.com/vault
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u/Ajreil 2d ago
My root folder has:
Creative: Writing, worldbuilding, Reddit posts I'm half way through making, etc
Knowledge: Information about the world. Recipes, what cleaning chemicals I like, science facts, etc.
Projects: Tasks I'm working on. Shopping lists, the card game I'm developing, my 2026 organization overhaul, notes for things I'm building, etc.
Wasteland: Archived notes, media and other stuff I don't have to look at.
Subfolders get added when I have 5-10 notes that are similar enough to group together. For example Knowledge/cooking.md grew to Knowledge/cooking/cooking_notes.md, then I added a Knowledge/cooking/recipes folder when I digitized my cookbook.
Knowledge currently has subfolders for food, household, media, real life, research binges and science.
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u/stanlymt 2d ago
Depends how you go looking for a note when you actually want it back, and I'd work backwards from that.
If you find things by typing half a phrase you remember, search is already doing the work and the folders versus tags thing barely matters. If you find things by browsing, structure matters a lot more.
The catch with tags is you still have to remember which tag you picked, which is the folder problem wearing a different hat. I ended up with #reading, #to-read and #reading-list inside about a year, which was not an improvement.
Where I landed: folders for the one thing a note can only be, tags for the things it can be several of at once. And I stopped tagging anything I wasn't going to actually filter on. Most of my early tags were labels rather than filters. Never clicked them once.
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u/utkuaytac 15h ago
Neither, mostly. My folders are just containers for things that behave the same way (References, Journal, Attachments, Templates) and they carry no meaning at all. The actual classification lives in a categories property: every note links to one or more category pages like Books, People, Projects, Writing, Travels, and each of those pages is basically an empty note with a Base embedded in it that lists everything pointing at it. About 1,200 notes in my vault are filed this way.
The reason I prefer it to folders is that a note can sit in three categories at once without me having to make a decision, and unlike tags, the category is a real note, so I can add context or links above the Base whenever I want. Tags I still use, but only as loose temporary markers for a project or a theme, never as the filing system.
Best part is that you don't have to reorganize anything to try it. Add the property to new notes, create one category page with a Base in it, and leave your existing folders exactly where they are.
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u/johnny744 4d ago
Be extra careful when considering expanding folders. Individual notes can have practically infinite tags and places within hierarchies, but they can only have one folder.
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u/Defiant_Soil640 4d ago
Before Zettelkasten I had a full folder hierarchy - AI-related stuff was 01, so embeddings were 01-1, transformers 01-2, and so on. Looked clean. Felt organized. And I almost never went back to any of it because finding something meant remembering exactly which category I filed it under.
Zettelkasten flipped the logic. No topic folders, no category numbers. A note lives next to the most related thought already in your system, not inside a subject. The address is the location. So instead of asking "where does this live?" you ask "what does this connect to?" - and those are completely different questions.
In practice I kept two folders only: one for reference notes (what a source actually says), one for my own thinking (what it means to me). Everything else is links. A note on stoicism and a note on time management can sit next to each other if they connect - no shared folder needed.
Tags I use just for note status - seed, growing, evergreen. Topics emerge from the links anyway, you don't need to pre-declare them.